Updated 2026-08-12
With the 30% federal credit gone, state policy is the whole game. Two states with identical sunshine can be six years apart on payback purely because one pays full retail for exported power and the other pays a quarter of it. 1 of the 7 states published here offer a rebate, a tax credit or an SREC market.
Net metering is what your utility pays for power you send to the grid. Full retail means an exported kilowatt-hour is worth the same as one you buy — the grid works as a free battery. Partial and little or none mean exports are discounted, so a smaller system you consume at home beats a large one. California is its own case: NEM 3.0 pays roughly 5¢ against a retail rate six times higher, which is why batteries have become near-standard there.
SRECs are certificates your system earns for the clean power it produces, sold separately from the electricity itself. Only a handful of states have a working market.
| State | Export credit | Retail rate | Worth | State support | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 32% of retail | 52.0¢ | 16.6¢ | $5,000 state support | 4.5 |
| Alaska | 25% of retail | 28.2¢ | 7.1¢ | — | 12.9 |
| Nevada | 75% of retail | 13.6¢ | 10.2¢ | — | 13.0 |
| Kansas | 16% of retail | 15.1¢ | 2.4¢ | — | 14.7 |
| Iowa | 100% of retail | 14.1¢ | 14.1¢ | — | 15.2 |
| Oregon | 100% of retail | 16.3¢ | 16.3¢ | — | 16.0 |
| Oklahoma | 22% of retail | 13.4¢ | 2.9¢ | — | 16.2 |
Incentive rules change without much notice and vary by utility inside a state. Check DSIRE for your own utility before you sign anything. Payback figures come from our published method.